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ERIC Number: ED671753
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025-Feb
Pages: 4
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
The COVID-Era Social Safety Net and Economic Well-Being Beyond Child Poverty
H. Luke Shaefer
Poverty Solutions, University of Michigan
During the COVID-19 pandemic the federal government enacted an unprecedented package of social safety net measures, including broad-based cash transfers in the form of expanded unemployment insurance (UI), a series of economic impact payments (EIPs), and the expanded Child Tax Credit (CTC). It is well known that these measures-- especially the expanded CTC--were crucial in driving child poverty to an all-time low of 5.2% in 2021 according to the Supplemental Poverty Measure (SPM), close to a 60% drop from 2019. Beyond reducing child poverty, however, these cash-based safety net measures--along with other COVID-era policies--extended aid well up the economic ladder. Indeed, the full amount of the expanded Child Tax Credit was available to single parents making up to $75,000 and two-parent families with incomes as high as $150,000. This research brief examines changes over time in two additional measures of child economic well-being that serve as complements to the child poverty rate: (1) the proportion of children with family incomes below 200% of poverty; and (2) the proportion of families reporting that they cannot cover a $400 emergency expense in cash or equivalent.
Poverty Solutions, University of Michigan. Joan and Sanford Weill Hall Suite 5100, 735 South State Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109. e-mail: povertysolutions@umich.edu; Web site: https://poverty.umich.edu/
Publication Type: Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: University of Michigan, Poverty Solutions
Identifiers - Assessments and Surveys: Current Population Survey
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A